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today we have news that French special forces backed by the African intervention force have retaken Gao, considerably to the east, and French paratroopers have secured the airport/access roads to Timbuktu, to the north, and surrounded the city.

it took the French one day from securing the airport at Gao to taking control of the whole city itself, with relatively little fighting. the next announced target is kidal, way to the northeast, and airstrikes there have already begun.

meanwhile the islamists torched the library at Timbuktu in a spiteful little act of vengeance.

for some reason this feels like October 2001...

Fair to say the French have a bit of experience at this sort of thing - dropping forces into Africa to set the natives straight.

Acquaintance of mine used to run tours from Morocco to Capetown. He would ship a couple of trucks into Morocco, the tourists would arrive & off they would go. He was once shot at by blue-robed Tauregs firing AKs from the back of camels (the dislike of Turegs for outsiders is a double edged sword here). He had another experience furhter south in a Central African nation (maybe CAR) where they arrived at the border to find French Legionnaires manning road blocks. They told him he had to go around.....the entire country!! There had been some sort of violent change of government & the French had arrived to restore order & back their faction.

I also recall quite a bit of French involvement in Chad in the 80s in what I suspect were similar conditions.

As for your 'October 2001' feeling, was thinking much the same thing. Winning the 'war' might not prove nearly as difficult as winning the 'peace'. It sounds like the Malian Army is working hard to ensure that the ethnic tensions that underlie at least part of this conflict will continue to fester, and I can't imagine the French are keen to commit indefinately. Unfortuanely what has passed for a Malian government over the past year or so hasn't exactly inspired confidence that it can bring this place back under control in the longer term.

news reports that kidal has been taken without resistance-- french forces just landed in the airport and strolled into the city. reports that groups of malians are roaming about giving some not-very-well-hidden fighters some rough retribution.

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

news reports that kidal has been taken without resistance-- french forces just landed in the airport and strolled into the city. reports that groups of malians are roaming about giving some not-very-well-hidden fighters some rough retribution.

Also heard about the two-pronged attack on Timbuktu; ground forces from the south, airbourne forces from the north.

"There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge

Apparently different Taureg groups are on different sides of this, but my bet is that it won't take long for them to remember how much they dislike being ruled by 'outsiders', especially if the southerners or other African troops re-assert control too brutally. These guys have been surviving in the most hostile condidtions imaginable for god knows how many generations - they are easy to p1ss off & hard to scare. If the next step isn't handled properly we could all be back here in a few years.

On a related note, I was following a thread elsewhere on the use of Toyota 4WDs in warfare. Apparently there was some Toyota exec who mentioned that they actually sent guys out to Africa in particular to get feedback oh how the vehicles had been used & how they had performed. Might even have brought a few home. Apparently saved them a fortune in testing the things.